


Wherever You Want

by grainjew



Series: took our time and the time has flown [4]
Category: Pocket Monsters | Pokemon (Anime)
Genre: Gen, I'm sure I'll locate it at some point, Immortality, POV Outsider, Post-Canon, ash is a pokemon actually. sometimes its just like that, ash ketchum legendary pokemon extraordinaire and very disconcerted about it, even being immortal doesnt stop you getting involved in other peoples' problems every day, the nonbinary ash content the world deserves, this fic is not actually complete but I can't find the button for that right now
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-07
Updated: 2019-12-17
Packaged: 2020-02-27 13:57:46
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 4,362
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18740443
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/grainjew/pseuds/grainjew
Summary: Ash, the Helpful Pokemon. A fighting and ground type. Said to have once been a human, it is always seen with a pikachu on its shoulder.Ash is a pokemon now, and all that comes with it. (Really, not much changes at all.)+ snippets, from the following adventure





	1. Ash

**Author's Note:**

  * For [fallingwish](https://archiveofourown.org/users/fallingwish/gifts).



> this follows from the previous fic in this series, sort of, but the basics are: ash and pikachu don't age, and also, ash is totally partways a pokemon, sort of because of that. he can use aura sphere, guys. the kid's a pokemon
> 
> timeline: approximately 75 years after the first episode of the anime

Ash found out he was considered a pokemon by the scientific community when a kid scanned him with a pokedex one morning and got a result.

  * **Ash, the Helpful Pokemon. A fighting and ground type. Said to have once been a human, it is always seen with a pikachu on its shoulder.**



“Oh, cool!” said the kid. The pidgey on her head chirped agreement. “Wanna go see?”

“Pidgey!” _Yeah!_

Ash leaned back against the wall of the cave they’d sheltered the night in and muttered, “I swear that grandkid of Gary’s has it out for me.” They were only visible to the kid through a cascade of ivy, which was probably why she’d been uncertain enough to pull out her pokedex in the first place.

Pikachu just laughed at him. “Pi-pikachu pika.” _It’s about time you got an entry._

“What d'you mean by that, huh?”

“Pikachu,” said Pikachu dryly. _Aura Sphere._

Ash wasn’t about to admit it aloud, but Pikachu did have a point.

Then the kid pushed through the ivy, her eyes wide and fascinated, and said, “Hi!”

“Pi-pidg, dgey!” _You don’t look like a pokemon!_

Ash chalked his understanding of pokemon speech down to long familiarity. Other people, especially when he spent a long time away from humans helping out the wild pokemon and found it hard to talk so that humans would understand, took it as proof of him being a pokemon.

He made a noise with his mouth that sounded something like “Ahheh,” and then successfully twisted his brain around and said in a way that the girl would be able to parse, “Oh, hi!”

The girl jumped. “Whoa, you can talk? That’s cool!”

“Pidgey, pidgey pidge.” _Are you_ sure _you’re a pokemon?_

“Pika- _chu_ .” _Well,_ I’m _sure._

“Pikachu…” said Ash, and put his face in his hands. After an appropriate amount of seconds, he took it back out and looked at the girl, who was basically bouncing with excitement. “Yeah, I can speak human. Your pokedex said it already, but I’m Ash, and this is my partner Pikachu!”

“Pika pika!” _Good to meet you!_

“My name’s Ori, and this is Pidgey!” she said, pointing to the flying-type functioning as her hat. Then she paused. “Actually, you might be able to help me with something…”

They ended up spending the entire day resolving a complicated situation involving Pidgey’s extended family, a century-long feud, the family’s venerable and powerful elder, aka Ash’s Pidgeot — who they’d been planning on visiting anyways —, a very beleaguered pokemon watcher, the very beleaguered pokemon watcher’s even more beleaguered cottonee, and a slowpoke stuck in a tree.

At sunset, they said their goodbyes — except Ori and the pokemon watcher, Sivan, who had decided to travel together from here out — and Ash and Pikachu climbed a tree to watch the sky, Pidgeot making circles above the treetops as it tried to decide whether it trusted the flock to manage itself for a few days so it could stick with its old trainer and teammate a little longer.

Ash took his hat off his head and looked at it, then tried and failed to spin it on his finger. "So, I mean, since I'm sort of officially a pokemon now," he said, as dusk greyed the eastern sky and Pikachu looked at him smugly, "think I should start calling myself ‘it’?"

"Pika pika, pikachu," said Pikachu, which Ash translated as _Your choice, idiot._

"Obviously," said Ash. "But like... some pokemon have genders, obviously, and since a lot of the time it's humans doing the calling them it—"

"Pikachu chu, chu pika." _I gave up on gender ages ago and you know it._

Ash laughed. "Yeah, but should I? I dunno if humans even ask before they think a pokemon's one gender or another, and then there's all those Legendaries and stuff that definitely are 'it.' Especially the one-of-a-kind ones, and I'm pretty sure there's not another Ash-pokemon out there."

Pikachu thought for a moment, electricity grounding down from it through Ash’s body and then the tree to meet the earth with a pleasant tingling sensation.

Then it said, "Chu, pikachu." _Sounds like you already made a decision._

"Guess I did, huh." Ash put its hat back on its head and picked Pikachu up. "You're always smart about that sort of thing, way more'n me."

"Chu~" Pikachu sounded very smug. _I know, right?_

“And people call _me_ arrogant,” said Ash. It reached over and scratched behind Pikachu’s ear, to mark the statement as a joke. “They just can’t understand you when you say stuff, is the problem.”

“Pika pikachu.” _Or maybe you’re just arrogant._ Even the joking tone of Pikachu’s voice was softened by the way it leaned into Ash’s fingers, and Ash smiled. It could never have asked for a better partner, ever, in any life, and it was so, so glad it had Pikachu forever. Even if that meant being mocked for eternity.

“Somehow, I doubt it,” said Ash, and then frowned as it remembered something else from the morning that had been nagging at it. “Okay, but, who decided to call me the Helpful Pokemon? That grandkid of Gary’s?”

“Pika!” said Pikachu immediately. _Nope!_

“Nope what?”

“Pi pika pikachu, pikapi.” _You can't complain about that title, Ash._

“Yes I can.”

Pikachu raised a finger. “Pikachu, chu pikachu, pikachu.” _Consider what we just spent our entire day doing and think again._

Ash considered what they'd just spent their entire day doing. “Okay, point taken.”

Pikachu didn’t get to be smug that time, though, because Pidgeot picked that moment to alight on the base of the next branch over and inform them that it had spoken with its various apprentices and deputy leaders and was _mostly_ confident the flock wouldn’t completely fall apart if it was absent a few days.

“You don’t _sound_ very sure…” said Ash.

Pidgeot made a face, which was a pretty impressive feat considering the thing where its face was mostly a beak. “Pi-geot, pidgeot, _ot_ , ot-pidgeot, dgeot, pidgeot pidgeot, ot. Pidgeot.” _Well, they can’t come to a decision without a mediator, and they’re hopeless without a leader, and half of them can’t even defend themselves on their own… But they’ll be fine. Probably._

Ash muffled a laugh, and then another laugh when Pikachu answered it.

“Pika, pika pikachu.” _I’m pretty sure they were doing mostly fine before you came along…_

“Pidgeot pidge! Pidgeot!” _We have a reputation to uphold! A reputation I built!_

“They’ll be fine,” said Ash. It launched itself across the span of branches to land on Pidgeot’s back and grab it in a hug. “I’m so glad you’re coming with us! This is so exciting!”

“Pidgeot…” _It’s good to be back with you, Ash._

Pikachu jumped the gap, too, and Ash felt its claws dig into its shoulder as it touched down with perfect aim. Then Pidgeot took off without waiting for a signal, and they were soaring, soaring, soaring, until the world was small below them and stars were shaping themselves in the sky, and Ash threw its face, laughing, into the howling wind of their passage.

“So where should we go?” Ash shouted, when it had breath again from the beauty of the world.

Pidgeot said: _Wherever you want!_

And Pikachu laughed at Ash, and grabbed for its cap when the wind tried to steal it, and they sped towards a destination none of them had bothered to name, far over the horizon.

And it didn’t matter, that Ash wasn’t really human anymore, and Pidgeot wasn’t really its pokemon anymore, and Pikachu was the only one who was its age anymore, not with the gales singing as Kanto disappeared beneath them, and Ash’s heart beating loud in its ears with joy.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> things that are iconic about ash: had to start thinking of itself as a pokemon before it could realize it's nonbinary
> 
> (incidentally!! the author of this fic uses it/its pronouns -- as well as various other non-gendered pronoun-sets -- so if you have something negative to say about that, or about ash using them, i will eat your face. thanks thats all have a good week i hope you enjoyed the fic!!!)


	2. Ori

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i wasn't very satisfied with how the end of the original piece didn't connect to the beginning, so i wrote more -- this is the first time ever in my life ive posted an actual second chapter. fear me

Ori had had an altogether weird day.

Between the talking pokemon, and the pidgey family drama, and the slowpoke stuck in a tree, she wasn’t sure she’d had a more eventful time since leaving home. But she was pretty sure this was what a pokemon journey was _supposed_ to be like, all full of interesting things. At least, that’s what her grandma had always told her.

Plus, she’d got a travelling companion who could actually cook out of it! No amount of weird could ruin _that_ . She was standing beside the portable stove getting to know her new friend but mostly just admiring, because that soup smelled _heavenly._

“Yeah,” said Sivan, waving around the ladle like a kid with a fake sabre, “I'm gonna be a super famous and accomplished pokemon watcher, like Professor Sketchit!” Now that their cottonee wasn't stuck in the middle of a flying-type feud, they were much more relaxed.

 _Almost too relaxed_ , thought Ori as she ducked a splatter of soup from off the ladle. “Cool!” she said, and snatched it to portion out dinner because clearly Sivan wasn’t about to.

“Professor Sketchit's the one who's cool,” they said back, and then took their bowl. “Thanks!”

“You made it, not me,” said Ori. She sat on her jacket to eat and realized she was going to stick with Sivan as long as she possibly could the moment her spoon made it into her mouth. “Arceus's seventeen _plates_ , this is good.”

“You found those persim berries,” said Sivan, “but thanks!” Then they tasted it themself and said, “Oh, whoa, it _is_ good. I think I just won soup.”

Ori giggled, and then shovelled more soup into her mouth. She wasn’t about to contest that, not while there was still food to be eaten.

When Sivan had drained two bowls and was starting a more restrained pace on their third, they looked up and tilted their head, like they were thinking. “You don't hear people swearing by Arceus much around here,” they said after a moment. “You from far?”

“Nah, only Cinnabar! Sinnoh just has the best contests.” Ori was on her fourth bowl, and eyeing the leftovers at the bottom of the pot.

“Contest fan?” asked Sivan, and then snatched the ladle before Ori could get to it. “Hey, you’ve had more’n me, let me finish it!”

Ori surrendered the ladle-battle gracefully and puffed out her chest. “Future Top Coordinator, more like!”

Sivan just raised an eyebrow, which was totally rude. “If you say so.”

“Don’t laugh at me!” said Ori. “Me an’ Pidgey are gonna totally make top coordinator faster even than Zoey of Snowpoint!” When Sivan just looked at her like they’d never heard the name, somehow, she added. “ _You_ know, the legendary Top Coordinator who _swept_ the Sinnoh circuit when she was just my age and won the Grand Festival not even a year after she started? She’s my _idol_. Someday I’m gonna go to Sinnoh and I’m gonna compete in the places she did and I’ll be able to die happy.” She sighed, dreamily, and then pointed her spoon at Sivan’s face. “When we next have signal I’m showing you _all_ the videos.”

“Alright, alright, sounds good!” they said, waving the ladle around again. “I look forward to it, probably!”

She stared at them. They seemed mostly sincere. She put her spoon back in her soup.

Then they finished dinner, and went to sleep, and Ori dreamed of weird pokemon who could speak human, and winning the grand festival, and feeding persim berries to a pidgey and a pikachu.

She was woken up the next morning by a _thump_ , a loud shout, and an answering _caw_.

There was a clatter of voices outside, and she’d gotten all tangled in her sleeping bag, but at least she’d had the foresight to get dressed for today before going to bed. Her grandma had told her before she left to always sleep in tomorrow’s clothes when she was travelling, and she always listened to her grandma.

She untangled herself after a few minutes of making it worse and staggered out the tent door, hoping she wasn’t too late to see what the fuss was about.

Standing in the middle of their campsite like they’d just fallen out of the sky were that trio of pokemon from yesterday, the pidgeot that was Pidgey’s great-grand cousin fifteen times removed or something and the pikachu and the ash. Or, well, they’d introduced themselves, so calling them “the” was maybe a bit rude? She didn’t know, she’d never met a talking pokemon before!

“Don’t worry, most haven’t,” said Ash, and she realized she’d spoken aloud. It kept talking as a blush crept up her cheeks. “But call us Ash and Pikachu and Pidgeot, for sure!” It reached up and ran fingers through the feathers of Pidgeot’s crest in an oddly human gesture.

“Piiidgeot,” said Pidgeot. Ori wasn’t sure if it was trying to contribute to the discussion or it was just making a contented noise, and the way Ash just smiled at it didn’t help.

“So wait, are there other talking pokemon in the world?” came Sivan’s voice as they pushed open their tent flap, looking very rushed and like they hadn’t listened to their grandma. Pidgey took that as its cue to flutter from its roost on a branch overlooking the campsite and settle back on Ori’s head, chattering something at the other pokemon.

“Oh yeah, lots,” said Ash. It made a face. “Mostly Legendaries, but there’s also some zorua, and a lot of psychic types, and very persistent meowth.”

“So does that make you a Legendary, a zorua, a psychic type, or a meowth?” asked Sivan, while Ori was busy trying to figure out what a talking meowth would be like and therefore too occupied to talk.

“Well I’m _definitely_ not Meowth,” said Ash, in a tone that was almost laughing. “And I’m pretty sure I’m not a zorua or a psychic type either?”

“Pika pika,” said Pikachu from his shoulder.

“Shut up,” said Ash. “And I think I’d know if I was a Legendary? And other people would know.”

“Pika, pika pikachu.”

Ash sighed. “Pikachu says to check my pokedex entry.” It looked incredibly resigned.

“Ori?” prompted Sivan, when nobody reacted. “I haven’t got a pokedex.”

Ori obediently scrambled in her pockets for her pokedex, tossing a “Wait, you don’t?” in Sivan’s vague direction as she did.

  * **Ash, the Helpful Pokemon. A fighting and ground type. Said to have once been a human, it is always seen with a pikachu on its shoulder.**



“Okay, next bit,” she muttered.

  * **It has the ability to manipulate Aura in the fashion of lucario** — “What, no, every lucario I’ve ever met is _way_ better than me! — **and can often be found at the site of potential catastrophes.** — “I’m not an _absol._ Gary, why does your grandkid hate me?” — **It is considered to be a Legendary Pokemon by some, although a consensus has not yet been reached within the scientific community.**



“Piika,” said Pikachu smugly, into the following silence.

Ori picked up her jaw from where she’d dropped it. “ _Whoa…_ ” She’d been talking to a Legendary. An actual, honest to Ho-Oh Legendary Pokemon. For _real._ “That’s _so cool._ ”

“I didn’t think…” Sivan’s jaw worked. Then they blinked a few times, like they were trying to clear their whole brain out. “Wait, what are you doing here?”

“What?” said Ash, still staring at Ori’s pokedex like the machine had eaten its mother. Pidgeot swatted it with a wing so hard it almost fell over. Ash scowled at it.

“I mean,” Sivan waved a hand, a lot more like the nervous wreck Ori had met them as than they’d looked while waving a ladle around. “I mean, didn’t you go off somewhere? I mean, like, we said goodbye to you and everything, after yesterday?”

“Huh,” said Ori. She hadn’t even thought about that.

“We- _ell_ ,” said Ash, and brought its hand up behind its head in another weirdly human gesture, although Ori supposed it made sense because of the pokedex saying it had been human at one point? “See.”

“Pi pika pikachu pikapi,” said Pikachu dryly.

“Pikachu told me I was being an idiot,” said Ash.

“Pidgeot,” said Pidgeot dryly.

Pidgey started up a chorus of chatter from on top of Ori’s head.

“Um,” said Sivan, and Ori had to agree with them, because that didn’t actually explain anything at all.

Ash took a deep breath, and put a hand in the fur at Pikachu’s neck, and said, “Wow, it’s weird to be the one asking this.” A pause. “So, d’you mind if I travel with you guys for a bit? I miss… Well. Yeah.”

Ori thought for about half a second — a _real-live Legendary_ wanted to _travel with her?_ — before shoving her fist in the air and shouting, “NO OBJECTIONS!”

“I mean,” said Sivan, and Ori noticed they were gaping again. “I mean, I mean, obviously, I don’t have any problem with it? I mean, that’d be so cool?”

“Great!” said Ash, and smiled like the sun had come out. “So, where are we headed?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> important things to take away from this: ash refereeing practice battles, telling stories about tracey, mentoring another promising young coordinator, and complaining about gary oak's arceus-damned grandkid


	3. Dahlia

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Meet Dahlia of Cerulean City!

The doorbell echoed through the big main room of the Cerulean Gym, and then Gyarados fading into a flash of red light accompanied Dahlia's favorite relative making a smooth arc out of the water and shrugging a towel over her shoulders.

Dahlia's Great-Aunt Misty always had a swimsuit on under her clothes and a messy shock of white hair that glowed underwater. Dahlia was pretty sure she was the most beautiful person ever, even though Grandma Lily and Great-Aunt Violet and Great-Aunt Daisy were the ones who'd been models. Although, she only had pictures of Grandma Lily, so maybe she was wrong.

But then Misty smiled at her, and she was pretty sure she was right. 

"Let's see who wants a pummelling today, huh?" said Misty. She took Dahlia's hand, and Dahlia didn't mind at all that it was wet.

The front door slid open to three trainers who looked just the right age to get a pokemon, which meant they were a few years older than Dahlia. Two of them looked pretty normal, but then there was something weird about the third one.

After a minute of solid, squinty-eyed staring, Dahlia realized the trainer was actually a pokemon. Maybe? Misty had told her about how zorua could change shape, and there was this weird non-human cast to its face and its hair and the way its jaw was set. She'd spent enough time with all the gym pokemon to be able to tell things like that!

Then Misty said, "Ash!"

"Um.... hi Misty," said the weird one, speaking real fast. 

"Pika pika!" said the Pikachu on the weird one's shoulder.

"You know the gym leader?" said the trainer with a pidgey on her head.

"Is _that_ why you dragged us all the way across Cerulean without asking?" said the other one.

"You never visit, young whippersnapper," said Misty, pointing right at the weird one, and Dahlia was all confused for a second because Misty never called _anyone_ whippersnapper. "It's been years!"

" _Misty_ ," complained the weird one, "we're the same _age._ "

"Yeah, but you never had the grace to get any older, and my back hurts, so I can call you whatever I want." Misty sighed gustily, and then reached down and grabbed the weird one in a hug so tight Dahlia thought she could hear bones cracking. "I'd say I'm surprised you went and became a pokemon, but somehow, I'm really not."

The weird one — definitely a pokemon, Misty said so — squeezed back, and then untangled itself. "Wait, you _knew_ about that?"

"Heard from Lana, who heard from Lillie," said Misty.

The weird one looked comically betrayed. "And they didn't tell _me_? I was just in Alola! Just passing through, but we were _there._ "

"And who did you _talk_ to while you were there?" Misty was angling her _you did something really dumb_ stare.

"Uhhhhh... the Tapu?" The weird one paused. "Yeah, okay, I deserved that."

"Pika," said the pikachu on its shoulder.

Misty shook her head, and then said, "So, introduce us to your latest travelling companions? This is my grandniece Dahlia, I don't think you've met her. She has _all_ the makings of a water-type master, after the mold of yours truly!"

Dahlia tried not to smile too wide at the praise, and said, "Hi!"

"Good to meet you, Dahlia," said the weird one, not laughing at her, which was pretty nice. "I'm Ash, and this is Pikachu. These are Ori and Pidgey, she's a coordinator, and Sivan, who's a pokemon watcher!"

"Hey!"

"Good to meet you!"

"A pokemon watcher, huh," said Misty. Her eyes crinkled in that smile adults always did when they thought they knew something you didn’t.

Now Ash laughed. "Yeah, and you won't believe who they idolize.” It winked, and its voice dropped into a fake whisper like Misty used when she was sneaking Dahlia out to the pool because Dahlia didn’t want to do homework. “It's like the Orange Islands all over again, except instead of Tracey going on about Professor Oak it's someone else going on about _Tracey_."

Misty threw back her head and laughed, hair flying out like seaspray. “I wanna see his face when he hears that.”

“Pika pika,” said Pikachu, nodding gravely.

“Wait,” said Sivan, eyes widening, “you know—”

But Misty kept talking, right over them. “But really, come in, I can’t just leave you all standing in the doorway.” She paused. “Well, I could, but I’m not wasting this rare Ash visit.” She grabbed its wrist and dragged it inside, leaving the others to scramble after as the doors closed. 

“Mistyyyy—”

“Pikaaaa—”

They ended up in the main battlefield area, and Misty sat them all down — Ash shaking out its wrist and Ori and Sivan looking around in bemusement — on the bleachers to talk. 

“Welcome to Cerulean Gym,” said Misty, spreading out her arms. “My pride and joy!” She put her hand on Dahlia’s head. “Along with little Dahlia here, of course.”

Dahlia blushed. Misty ruffled her hair, and then took her hand away, which Pidgey, chattering, took as an invitation to flutter up off Ori and land on Dahlia’s head.

“Hey!” said Ori, smoothing out her hair and grinning. “Treason!”

Pidgey said something right back, and Ash and Pikachu laughed. Dahlia just reached up and ran her fingers over Pidgey’s soft feathers. It was a very nice pokemon, for a non-water-type. 

“So, how do you know the Cerulean gym leader?” asked Ori. 

Ash grinned. "We travelled together, back when Misty was my age! It was lots of fun!"

Misty rolled her eyes, like she did a lot when she was talking to Dahlia’s other great-aunts. "Mostly I just kept that one," she pointed at Ash, "from getting himself killed."

"Itself," said Ash.

"Itself." Misty's mouth made a shape. "Alright then." She turned to Ori and Sivan. "Anyways, you were warned about travelling with Ash and Pikachu, right?"

“I mean, I don’t think so?” said Sivan. 

“Not as far as I know…” said Ori.

Pidgey squawked from on top of Dahlia’s head, and Dahlia wondered why you’d need to be warned about travelling with someone Misty liked. 

“ _Ash,_ ” said Misty. She was using the tone she always used for scolding challengers who were stupid about their pokemon or bad to them, and also for scolding Dahlia for being mean to people or her cousins. “I swear, sometimes I think Max is right, you need to start carrying around waivers so your friends know what’s coming.”

Ash stuck its tongue out at her. Pikachu laughed, _chaa._

“You’re equally to blame, Pikachu!” scolded Misty. Then she turned back to Ori and Sivan. “Well, since those two are eternally irresponsible on _top_ of being eternally young, consider this your warning. Travelling with Ash and Pikachu means you end up getting involved in life-threatening situations at _least_ every two weeks, and stopping some kind of threat to the world basically every year, and meeting rare pokemon when it’s totally inconvenient. Also, Ash is impulsive to a fault and does stupid things all the time like jumping off cliffs after pokemon it’s just met. You still wanna do this?”

“I mean,” said Sivan. “It’s a legendary. Things were weird basically the minute we met it and Pikachu, I think? 'Sides, I’m a pokemon watcher, it'd be an insult to the profession to turn down the opportunity to observe a unique pokemon! I mean.”

“They’re friends now!” finished Ori for them, slamming down a fist on her knee. “And are gonna help us with contest appeals! ‘Course we gotta keep travelling together!”

“At least think for a _second,_ ” said Misty. She sighed gustily, then smiled. "But that's good to hear. Remember that conviction for when things get weird, and you'll do just fine, I think. The years I travelled with them were some of the best of my life, and I can only hope you'll learn as much from the journey as I did."

"Wow, Misty, that was almost nice," said Ash, voice all sardonic. "I'll even forgive you for calling me irresponsible!"

"I'm nice to you all the time!" said Misty back. She paused. "Young whippersnapper."

" _Mistyyyyy,_ " whined Ash. But they were smiling at each other, and then they were both laughing and Pikachu also, so Dahlia was pretty sure it was fake arguing. Which sometimes Dahlia got in trouble for like it was real arguing, but apparently it was ok to do if you were Misty or a pokemon.

Dahlia came to a realization.

“ _I_ wanna travel with Ash and Pikachu!” she declared. It sounded super cool! Maybe even cooler than water-types! Okay, not cooler than water-types, or cooler than Misty, but there were water-type legendaries, and _that_ was cool. Dahlia wanted to meet Kyogre, she’d decided it just now! “Misty, pleaaaaase?”

“Maybe in a couple years, little magikarp,” said Misty. Dahlia pouted, and Misty ruffled her hair. “Hey, this’ll cheer you up. Ash, want a battle? Two on two.”

Ash’s face lit up. Then it said, “Wait, Pidgeot had to go home yesterday, it’s just Pikachu I’ve got on me right now. I can’t do two-on-two.”

“Are you or are you not a pokemon, Ash Ketchum?”

Its eyes widened, and it grinned. “Oh, you’re _on._ ”

Yeah, alright, watching Misty fight was cooler than seeing Kyogre. Dahlia could totally wait a bit for her adventure.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this chapter has been lying unfinished for probably half a year but someone left a comment on chapter 2 about how charmed they were by Ori and Sivan and that just Energized Me because it was terrible that nobody had met Dahlia yet. terrible!
> 
> some misty notes, because to my dismay Dahlia doesn't care about timeline stuff:  
> Misty had been offered a position in the Kanto Elite Four several times over the years, but keeps turning it down for Basically the same reasons as Pidgeot in chapter 1 -- she rebuilt Cerulean Gym's reputation by her own hands and refuses to trust anyone else with it, thank you! Except Dahlia, who isn't old enough yet. Wait half a decade and Misty'll be hanging out on the Indigo Plateau, haha, while Dahlia will be Cerulean's new gym leader  
> Misty had about as much legendary exposure as most of Ash's other travelling companions, if not more, so she'll probably live to 120 or something like that. _technically_ within the bounds of humanity but only technically!!  
> She basically spent her life making herself famous in the international battle scene almost by accident, occasionally doing world-saving with Ash, and rebuilding the reputation of her gym into something respectable, formidable, thoughtful, and challenging. And eventually doting on her favorite grand-neice! Personally, I think she did damn well for herself


End file.
